Snapchat Is Testing New Ad Features to Improve Ecommerce and Lead-Gen Marketing

App debuts deep-linking and auto-fill

Snapchat has been steadily introducing ad products during the last couple of years, involving everything from shoppable ads to in-the-feed videos and a full-blown API. The diversification of tools is what many big-budget marketers—who need particular utilities on the mobile platform to do their jobs well—want to see. And such moves should intrigue revenue-minded investors heading into Snap Inc.'s seemingly inevitable 2017 IPO.

According to a Snap rep, the latest additions are deep-linking and web auto-fill. Hold onto your pocket pen holder, indeed.

Seriously, ecommerce brands and retention-focused advertisers such as music streaming services typically want deep-linking as an option for their spend. For Snap Ads, which is the platform's between-stories video offering, consumers can swipe up and tap a link to be taken out of Snapchat and directly into a new app—to a playlist in a music app, or a product page in an ecommerce app.

The auto-fill feature also is appearing in Snap Ads during the current tests. It allows viewers to fill out lead-generation forms with one tap on the screen after seeing an ad, and, to protect their privacy, they are asked if want to use the feature every single time it's utilized. (In other words, people should not be accidentally opting in to lists.)

Getting consumers to take five minutes to write up or type out personal information has always been a challenge. But it is even harder in an era when so much media consumption occurs on smartphones, which typically have small screens and keyboards.

So, auto brands, subscription marketers, insurers, gym membership companies, business-to-business players, etc. may suddenly have a bigger reason to buy Snap Ads. Facebook launched a similar offering in the second half of 2015.